Grief in a different point of view

As most of my readers know, I am not an animal nut. While I miss having my cat around sometimes, I do not miss the hassle of cleaning or maintaining the litter box, buying the cat food, or the dust bunnies of lost hair she left behind. Even yet, when the door in the kitchen opens, I turn to watch her make her legs one inch long and scoot under the bed to hide from Justin, her tormentor. But Lynx is no more and that is that. And there is absolutely no need to replace her! I am animal-free and love it this way. Here is my disclaimer: I am not without heart, and realize some people really really love their pets.

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Yesterday I went to get my hairs cut, as I usually do on the full moon. Normally the TV hung on the wall is blaring with some insipid daytime TV program---did you guys know that "The Price is Right" is still on TV? I was so surprised to see the new host. Guess that college-aged people are huge fans of this program. Well, anyway, it was pretty subdued but I did not realize at first, thinking they must have been too busy to turn it on. When it was my turn to sit in the chair, Barb got me settled in with the cape and began to groom me. On her counter was a beautiful plant, a greeting card with her name and her husbands' on the envelope, and bag of Dove heart-shaped chocolates. I asked Barb if it was her anniversary or something, to which she replied, "No, we lost our pug this weekend." How does one answer that? What in the world is a pug?

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Of course, her dog! She even has a framed photo of the dog on her work center. Her husband, a retired man, was walking the dog on Friday morning through their neighborhood, when the man down the street backed out of his driveway too fast and without looking, nearly hitting her hubby but did get the dog. She said he grabbed the dog up in his arms and was screaming as he ran back home with her in his arms. Barb got out of bed and without changing from her pj's, they took the dog to the vet. The vet could not help so they had to go to the ER for pets on Wells Road. She had to call in to tell the boss she was not coming in on Friday and told me she does not even remember what she told Susan.

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By Saturday morning, the decision had to be made to have the dog put out of its misery, having a broken back was not something that could be fixed. So, their beloved pet was gone. She told me that the pug went everywhere with her hubby, they did walks together, he took the dog for a ride in the car so she could let her ears blow in the breeze, all that fun stuff. She said he is just despondent and one of their close neighbors took the day off on Tuesday so he could stay with her hubby to keep him company. Her hubby does not know the reason his friend stayed home from work, only that he wanted someone to run errands with him. About three times Barb said "It was just a terrible weekend..." Wow!

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I resisted the temptation to ask if they would get a new dog because it is too soon to even consider this, although it is natural to fill the void as quickly as possible. She told me it was like losing a child, and then put her hand on my shoulder, and said, "Sorry..." She knew better than that, but I guess it helped me to see her sorrow, to a point. At least next week they will get a break somewhat as they are going to Miami to babysit their grandson while their daughter takes a much needed vacation. Their grandson has a sensory disorder, along the lines of autism, so they have their work cut out for them. She says he usually behaves better for them than he does for his parents, which I think is significant. How much is behavioral and how much is disorder?